NCSE Past Events

Why does teaching evolution, and especially human evolution, remain so socially and politically controversial in America? Why is it important for people to be aware of and to understand the scientific evidence for human evolution? What does NCSE do to promote this understanding and to defend the teaching of evolution in the public schools?

Banquet of theAES Electrophoresis Society

as part of the annual meeting of theAmerican Institute of Chemical Engineers

Details and history of the project, Understanding Global Change, will be presented at the session, "Climate Literacy: Research and Evaluation Results from Informal and Formal Climate Education Efforts."

Both evolution and anthropogenic climate change are “controversial issues” in education, although not in the realm of science. Proponents of antievolutionism and climate change denial use remarkably similar approaches to promote their views. The scientific issues are presented as “not being settled”, or that there is considerable debate among scientists over the validity of claims. The consequences of accepting either evolution or the reality of climate change are said to strike against core values. And in the educational setting, cultural values of fair play and free speech are invoked to encourage the teaching of both creationism and denial of anthropogenic global warming.

Denialists in both camps practice “anomaly mongering”, in which a small detail seemingly incompatible with either evolution or global warming is held up as dispositive of either evolution or of climate science. Although in both cases, reputable, established science is under attack for ideological reasons, the underlying ideology differs: for denying evolution, the ideology of course is religious; for denying global warming, the ideology is political and/or economic.

In the face of overwhelming legal resistance, creationist strategy has shifted from trying to get overt religion into the classroom, to trying to discredit evolution. Whether such a strategy will survive legal challenge has not yet been tested in courts. But in many places, evolution is still not taught, or taught inadequately. The Next Generation Science Standards, if adopted by states, may be helpful in getting evolution taught, but there is vigorous opposition in many places over their adoption. The NGSS also call for teaching climate change, and here the opposition to good science takes another form. It’s an ideological opposition, but not predominately a religious one.

A joint conference of
the Center for Inquiry
the Council for Secular Humanism
and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Dr. Scott will appear on a panel at the NAS Sackler Colloquium, "The NAS at 150: Celebrating Service to the Nation." This is a 3-day meeting, beginning Wednesday evening, October 16, through Friday afternoon, October 18. It is free to the public, but with limited seating.

For this discussion, Dr. Scott joins Dr. David Morrison, Director of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe.

Our current standard model of cosmology is, in fact, just the latest in a long line of “creation myths.” Why does it matter that this one is told by scientists? How can we encourage the general public to adopt suggested solutions for current/pending environmental challenges, when they appear to be losing confidence in science and scientists?

Eugenie Scott will introduce the lead-off movie, Creation at The Fifth Atheist Film Festival. Creation was directed by Jon Amiel, and stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly (real-life husband & wife) as Charles and Emma Darwin. The film is a partly biographical, partly fictionalised account of Charles Darwin's relationship with his eldest daughter, Annie (Martha West), as he struggles to write On the Origin of Species. John Collee wrote the script based on Randal Keynes's biography of Darwin titled Annie's Box.

Following Creation, the following will be shown:

The Revisionaries

Ron Goes To Heaven

Sophia Investigates the Good News Club

Kūmāré

Hug An Atheist

The Magdalene Sisters

The Film Festival, created in 2009, is the world's first film festival dedicated to showcasing feature films, documentaries, shorts and animated cinema created especially for the secular community. Whether you're an atheist, agnostic, skeptic, secular humanist, heathen, heretic, bright or just a fan of fresh, offbeat cinema that celebrates and encourages reason, critical thinking and freedom of inquiry both inside and outside of the movie theater, the Atheist Film Festival is for you.